The unusual racing journey forged by a youthful historics ace

Perhaps there’s something in the water, for the market town of Bourne in Lincolnshire has produced motorsport champions for almost 90 years. Raymond Mays’s English Racing Automobiles debuted in the 1930s, ERAs built at his family home conquering circuits as far afield as Australia and South Africa. After the Second World War, Mays formed British Racing Motors, winner of 17 Formula 1 grands prix from 1959-72 and the 1962 world championship with Graham Hill. Former BRM designer Mike Pilbeam’s eponymous creations subsequently dominated speed hillclimbing (a Mays speciality), customers winning 17 British titles.

At 21, Benn Tilley continues Bourne’s proud tradition, following in father Stuart’s wheeltracks. They are experts at winning championships on glider-fuel budgets. With support from loyal friends Simon and Mandie Hadfield, the duo added another to their impressive CV last season; Tilley’s Classic Formula 3 title also led to him being crowned Autosport Club Driver of the Year.

Racing, as a hobby, is a fickle and difficult pastime as the costs of entering events continue to spiral. Instructing preparers, settling big bills and turning up to test is a luxury open to few. For the Tilleys, who hold down full-time jobs, then work on loaned cars during evenings and weekends, it’s out of the question. But the rewards, not least the respect of their peers, are priceless. “We compete to win, but also to have fun,” says Stuart, Pre-’74 Formula Ford champion in 1992 with a Dulon MP15.

Benn – named after Tilley Sr’s late racing buddy Paul Simms’s son, who has a combined seven Historic FF1600, FF2000 and CF3 titles to his name – was born in 1999 and grew up around the circuits, proudly watching his dad.

Benn was different from most kids his age. Polite, quiet and extraordinarily observant, he missed nothing in the pit garages, paddock or on the spectator banks with mum Ann when Stuart was racing. Wide-eyed, he just absorbed every detail like a sponge, storing his knowledge away for such time as it would be important. “Nothing has changed, other than I’m taller now,” quips Benn, who couldn’t wait to race.

Benn Tilley Junior Saloons Donington 2014

Photo by: Mick Walker

A ninth birthday surprise visit to a Peterborough indoor karting facility finally put him behind the wheel. This led (belatedly, since rivals routinely advanced their ages to start ‘early’) to club-level Cadet and MiniMax racing, mainly locally at Fulbeck, PFI and Kimbolton. Tilley’s positive and personable demeanour is infectious. This quality, plus determination, strong work ethic and encyclopaedic recall for racing history, have underpinned subsequent accomplishments and heightened his hunger for more.

“I enjoyed my karting, but chasing the Super 1 championships would have been ridiculously expensive, far beyond what we could afford,” he says. “Being on the grid with [current McLaren F1 driver] Lando Norris at Kimbolton in 2012 was memorable, though. His motorhome arrived on the Thursday, then a truck with chassis, engines and tyres to test. We pitched up on Friday night, after work and school, with a Ford Transit and trailer.”

When he switched to cars just after his 14th birthday, Tilley was in at the deep end with a Citroen Saxo, as his October birthday meant he was up against drivers with at least a year’s experience. “His birthday was on the Wednesday and he raced on the Saturday,” recalls Stuart.

A full season in Junior Saloons then followed in 2014. “I competed against James Dorlin, now a GT rising star, and Ben Colburn,” says Benn. “Wherever I’ve raced there have been really good drivers at the front.”

"I love Formula Ford, it’s so pure. Competing wheel to wheel with Rick Morris, I learned rather a lot about racecraft!" Benn Tilley

Wheels within wheels often shape the motorsport fraternity. Former ATS and Merzario F1 mechanic Hadfield has facilitated the amateur careers of both Tilleys.

“We were together on the grid for a Pre-’74 FFord race at Mallory Park and Simon introduced himself,” says Stuart. “We hit it off and he’s been a saviour. When my Reynard SF79 FF2000’s engine blew up and caught fire in 1999, my racing was finished. Benn arrived that year, but Ann and I were amazed when Simon invited us over. He’d bought [for wife Mandie] a Merlyn Mk20, which had been crashed at Spa. He said, ‘Take it, the chassis and everything else is in boxes, rebuild it and race it!’”

Thus Team Tilley found itself with a sister car to the one that Stuart had started competing with in 1986, having switched from Ford Pinto-powered Hot Rod Escorts on the East of England’s ovals. That led to the loan of other cars, then the return of the faithful Merlyn when Benn – after a year out – was yearning to race a single-seater in 2016.

Ben Tilley Historic Formula Junior, Castle Combe 2017

Photo by: Oliver Read

He surprised rivals from day one, qualifying fourth among the Classic FF1600 opener’s 27-car field and finishing third on Silverstone’s GP circuit. More podiums followed in the Historic Sports Car Club’s Historic championship, including at the club’s 50th Anniversary celebration at Castle Combe. Having finished fourth overall, Tilley was back in 2017, attracting welcome support from Silverstone Auctions. Undeterred by a roll at Oulton Park as he and namesake Simms battled into Hislops, they were quickly back out, but momentum was lost.

Concentrating on Classic FF1600 for 2018 was a good move. Everything gelled and Tilley won nine of the 14 rounds to clinch his first championship.

“The racing was fantastically tight,” he recalls. “I beat Rick Morris by 0.047s at Snetterton, then Scott Mansell by 0.016s and 0.022s at the Formula Ford Festival, which finished the season on a high. I love Formula Ford, it’s so pure. Competing wheel to wheel with Rick Morris, I learned rather a lot about racecraft!”

Tilley relishes challenges. When local racer Paul Smeeth scaled back in 2017, Benn jumped at the offer of borrowing his 1962 Formula Junior Lotus 22. With more power from a high-revving 1100cc Ford Anglia engine than the FFord and less grippy Dunlop control tyres, it demanded a different approach.

“It’s more about powering through the corners and keeping the engine singing,” Tilley explains. “It’ll go to 10,000rpm but I stuck to 9500rpm for safety. Unfortunately, the block split while I was leading first time out at Donington. Paul paid for the rebuild, but we lost the overall championship to Peter de la Roche.”

Eighth in Ian Robinson’s pretty Lola Mk5 at Donington in 2018 proved the importance of a top engine, but things were brewing elsewhere. Equipe Hadfield arranged the loan of Euni Valentine’s Lotus 23B sportscar – originally Ken Delingpole’s, of Dellow fame, then raced by David Prophet – for the HSCC’s Guards Trophy sports racing and GT series in 2019.

“The 1600cc Lotus twin-cam engine was another step up in power, pushing 190bhp, and great fun,” says Tilley. “It’s quite interesting; the Chevron B8s [with two-litre BMW M10 engines, but 100kg heavier at 575kg] aren’t much quicker in a straight line. Winning at Croft was my highlight, beating locals Jon Waggitt and Peter Needham in their Lenham. The class championship was a bonus.”

Ben Tilley, Guards Trophy Croft 2019

Photo by: Steve Jones

But the wow factor of 2019 was racing Smeeth’s F1 Lotus 18 at Brands Hatch and the Silverstone Classic.

“Chassis 373 was raced by John Surtees, Jim Clark and Innes Ireland, so it was a privilege to be trusted with it,” says Tilley. “I met John Surtees at Goodwood’s Revival in 2014 when he was driving the 18 in cavalcades and dad was looking after it. He was an incredible gentleman. I spent as much time as I could asking questions about the car and his career. He made time for everybody, chatting and signing autographs at the circuit where he’d started his first four-wheeled race from pole in Ken Tyrrell’s FJunior Cooper in 1960.

“I never dreamed that I’d get to race the Lotus, let alone before I was 20! The 2.5-litre Climax [FPF] engine was the most powerful I’d experienced, making around 250bhp. The positive-stop gearbox took a little bit of getting used to, but Sam Wilson [who had raced John Chisholm’s sister car] told me not to hurry the change, which was good advice.”

"Winning both legs at Cadwell Park – my favourite circuit, where the British F3 Championship last visited in 1983, Ayrton Senna’s year – was very special" Ben Tilley

Benn certainly left a good impression with Historic Grand Prix Cars Association members, besting at sixth on the Brands GP circuit and eighth in a huge Silverstone field.

Then came 2020, foreshortened for all by the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic. Hadfield had pulled another rabbit from his crash hat, dusting down the March-Toyota 743 with which Brian Henton and Rupert Keegan had won F3 championships in the UK in 1974 and 1976 respectively.

“I remember Simon’s words when I first sat in it: ‘Don’t floor it under 4700rpm because you will detonate the engine’,” recalls Tilley. “That’s because of the 24mm air intake restrictor, which limits it to around 160bhp, with a very narrow power band. Quite a responsibility, and my first taste of slicks and wings.

“That car is absolutely awesome. We only got four races in, and winning both legs [on home soil] at Cadwell Park – my favourite circuit, where the British F3 Championship last visited in 1983, Ayrton Senna’s year – was very special.”

Ben Tilley, Matt Wrigley Classic F3 Cadwell Park 2020

Photo by: Mick Walker

His Saturday win was particularly memorable. After a mighty scrap with Matt Wrigley (Chevron B38), Tilley dived ahead audaciously approaching the Hall Bends. Mum Ann, watching from the restaurant’s terrace, “had kittens” according to her husband.

“It wasn’t that scary from where I was sitting,” explains Benn. “Matt had a clutch problem and lost momentum over The Mountain so I had to go for the gap!” Tilley duly sealed the Classic F3 Championship.

One last surprise lay in store: an appointment to visit Classic Team Lotus’s new HQ at Hethel, just before Benn’s 21st birthday.

“I said take your kit in case you are offered a run in something on the factory test track,” says Stuart. “Benn knew nothing about it, but through my old friend Dan Collins – he raced a Lotus 61 and 69 in Pre-’74 when I did it – we’d arranged a session in his stunning F1 Lotus 91 through [period mechanic] Chris Dinnage. The boy was gobsmacked.”

“I was strapped in, heart pounding, trying to take it all in,” says Benn. “Surrounded by black carbonfibre, I couldn’t stop thinking Nigel Mansell sat here in 1982. Now here I am with a Cosworth DFV developing over 500bhp in a 580kg ground-effect car – that’s more than 1000bhp/ton! Chris has completed thousands of laps on the airfield [where Team Lotus’s world champions Jim Clark, Graham Hill and Emerson Fittipaldi tested] so talked me round it. It was amazing. I’ll never forget that day.”

Like most of his contemporaries, Tilley is active on social media, albeit more energised by the stellar achievements of his heroes Clark and Surtees than innumerable streams of inconsequential tittle-tattle. Despite ‘reality TV stars’ or personalities transitioning from other activities being more likely than talented racers to have big-buck opportunities fall at their feet, there’s no jealousy with Benn. Funding the dream has long been a family affair. It’s as well he’s an only child.

“The generosity and faith of Simon and Mandie Hadfield, without whom most of my racing would not have been possible, other car owners, friends [including former Imp racer Ian Toon] and my parents’ hard work has brought two championships and two class titles, way more than I dared to dream of as a kid,” says Benn, who will be out in the F3 March again this season.

“Somehow, I don’t think I’d enjoy racing modern cars but, if we found a pot of gold or won the lottery, I’d love to try Historic F2. Then maybe Historic F1. That run in the Lotus opened my eyes!”

Ben Tilley, Lotus 18 Brands Hatch 2019

Photo by: Gary Hawkins